The present invention relates to a composite article of manufacture, and particularly a composite baseball bat made of wood or other materials, which are suitable alternative for aluminum bats.
Many baseball leagues (other than Major League Baseball) use metal bats. Historically, this primarily has been done as a cost savings measure in that wooden bats break easily and are expensive to replace. The savings from metal are substantial.
Most metal bats are made principally of aluminum, which can be coated to look like wood, but which performs far differently than wood bats. First, they make a metallic “pinging” when the ball is struck, as opposed to the “crack of the bat” heard when a wood bat strikes a ball. Second, the feel of a wooden bat's sweet spot upon striking the ball cannot be replicated with a metal bat. For that reason, metal bats are considered aesthetically unpleasing by some traditionalists used to the appearance, performance and sound of wood bats.
In addition to the shortcomings noted above, metal bats are coming under increased scrutiny due to the speed of the ball off of the bat. Pitchers and other players and spectators are at increased risk of being hurt because of reduced reaction time resulting from the metal bats' increased power and attendant increased ball speed.
Many leagues are considering banning metal bats because of the safety issues, and secondarily because of performance issues.
The composite bat of the present invention addresses these issues and also provides a means for a player to progress from one playing level to the next level, where they will be required to use wood bats. It allows a player to use wood throughout an entire career, as the trend to use metal bats has produced an undesirable situation for players—when they get to the level where they are required to use wood, they are in essence unable to do so due to a lack of experience with it.
In addition to providing a bat that allows the use of wood throughout a career, the present invention provides for a longer lasting bat, as the composite bat of the present invention will not fray or peel as other compositions might.
When the composite bat of the present invention is used to strike a ball, the core members and outer members tend to act together to absorb the ball's impact by compressing and engaging with one another in an unexpected fashion for an even impact, no matter where the ball is impacted. This is true with even a glancing blow, and the result is a truer and more consistent strike and feel.
Additionally, the composite bat of the present invention conserves wood.
Only a small amount of the wood harvested for baseball bats is used. There is a need for a composite bat construction that makes a more efficient use of wood. The present invention allows pieces that would normally be scrapped to be usable.
Additionally in the case of a composite bat with a bamboo core, one is able to utilize wood that may otherwise be unable to be used in one piece, so instead of discarding that one is able to glue it into the bamboo core.
In the case of rubber wood, one is able to use a heavier wood core such as white oak, hickory or even of maple wood that would be too heavy to use for the entire bat can be used as the core member, with lighter wood used for the outer members.
Another way the present invention allows more use of wood is that any small portion of a piece of wood that has favorable grain, although not usable for an entire bat, can still be utilized for the outer members.
Moreover, with shell members one is able to utilize more wood because the grain does not have to be as strong to resist vibration.
Various attempts have been made to either provide composite baseball bats using wood or to provide composite baseball bats simulating wood more than conventional aluminum bats.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,032,143 to Mueller et al. proposes an aluminum core surrounded by a form plastic body. Such a bat is said to be a lighter and less expensive bat suited for younger players (See, Column 1, lines 41-42).
U.S. Pat. No. 4,572,508 to Young proposes a baseball bat formed by a plurality of laminations held together by dovetail-shaped grooves and ridges. Layers of carbon fibers impregnated with a thermosetting resin are sandwiched between the wooden laminations to provide strength and shock absorbing characteristics.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,848,745 to Bohannon et al. proposes a cured foam core bat or bowling pin having circumferentially wound fibers sandwiched between two layers of fibers aligned with the longitudinal axis of the bat.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,114,144, 5,460,369 and 5,460,369 all to Baum disclose wood composite baseball bats having an aluminum core overwrapped with a composite reinforcing layer and covered with an outer layer of resin coated wood veneer. These bats are complex and expensive to manufacture, and uses an actual wood exterior to achieve the performance and appearance of a wood bat.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,301,940 to Seki et al. proposes a method of molding a baseball bat by winding reinforcing fibers around a core, placing this in a mold and injecting a resin which is a crosslinked polyaminoamide resin, a crosslinked epoxy modified polyamidoamide resin or a polyesteramide resin into the mold and curing the bat.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,395,108 to Sauders et al. proposes a synthetic wood composite bat comprising a shell of fiber reinforced resin material, a fiber tube inside the shell and a rigid cured polyurethane form filling the shell and penetrating the inner portion of the tube.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,409,214 to Cook proposes a baseball bat having a hollow metal handle portion and a solid wood barrel portion positioned in the handle portion.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,800,293 to MacKay, Jr. proposes a laminated wood bat constructed of a plurality of thin wood veneer bundled together throughout its facing surfaces.
None of these bats, however, sufficiently match the beneficial characteristics of existing wooden baseball bats or offer the other advantages of the present invention. Therefore, it can be appreciated that there is still a need for an improved composite baseball bat structure.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a composite baseball bat that substantially mimics the appearance, performance and sound of a conventional wood bat.
It is a further object of the present invention to make more efficient use of the wood available for baseball bats.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide a composite baseball bat that is more durable than an all-wood bat.